


Sunsets and Cacti

by Ebhenah



Series: Falling Like Soaring [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Shiro/Curtis, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Moving On, Patient Keith, Post-Canon, Shiro discussed, Shiro/Curtis adopt kids, cautious lance, mourning allura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 04:06:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebhenah/pseuds/Ebhenah
Summary: Five years after Keith confesses to being in love with Lance, things are still slowing evolving between them as Lance navigates mourning Allura and moving on. Can Keith lure Lance away from the family farm for a weekend away with him for the first time to meet the three siblings that Shiro and Curtis have adopted?Written and published in the Stars Align Zine.Sequel to my NSFW fic "Champagne Kisses" and prequel to my **VERY SAD** fic "The Last"





	Sunsets and Cacti

“I think we should take a weekend and go visit,” Keith said conversationally, keeping his tone light and neutral. He rolled onto his side and watched Lance’s face, trying to get a read on his reaction. In the years since Allura’s passing Lance had changed. He’d gone quieter, his natural exuberance replaced by a faraway dreamy quality instead. There were still a few things that sparked that long-ago ‘razzle dazzle’, and slowly those few were growing in number.

Losing her had been hard on all of them, but hardest, by far, on Lance. Lance, who had loved her with all the hope and passion of a first love. Lance, who had had far too short a time with her. Lance, who regretted every day he’d put off asking her on a date **because** their time together had been so short. Lance, who bore the marks of their time together on his face for all the world to see. 

“A weekend?” Lance echoed, voice soft as he watched the sun sinking behind the gentle slopes of the fields filled with crops that were well on their way to a good harvest. “I haven’t gone anywhere but New Altea in so long… I’m needed here.”

He rested his hand on Lance’s knee, “you love kids, Lance. Shiro and Curtis are family. They just adopted three kids. You haven’t even met them. We should take a weekend. Both of us. Go visit. It would mean so much to them to see you.”

“Yeah… maybe…” He smiled sadly, the blue marks glowing in the low light and reflecting in his eyes in a way Keith had grown to love, “she’d be so thrilled for Shiro. Married. Kids. He deserves it.”

“He does,” he agreed easily, “and she would.” He’d learned over the years to neither mention Allura first, nor change the subject when Lance brought her up. She’d been Keith’s friend and teammate. He’d loved her, too… but in many ways, Lance was the keeper of her memory, and it always went best when he let Lance be the one to decide when to access that memory. When Keith needed to talk about her, he turned to one of the others who grieved the same way he did. She’d want Lance to be living his life to the fullest, too… and Keith hoped she knew that slowly but surely Lance was getting there. It took as long as it took. Keith would help him every step of the way, no matter how long that was.

“Yeah… maybe…” he said again, and Keith felt hope jump in his chest. Any other time he’d suggested going anywhere for a weekend, Lance would say ‘yes, maybe’ **once** and then the very next comment would be ‘not yet. I’m not ready yet’. Lance’s fingers sank into his hair, nails scratching lightly across the back of his neck and the blue marks flared slightly when Keith sighed at the touch.

Mourning made falling in love again a kind of minefield. Allura was gone, but she was still very much an occupant of Lance’s heart, and he was just learning how to **believe** that opening his heart to Keith wasn’t the same as forgetting about her. No one would ever be able to replace her, and Keith would never **want** to. But he loved Lance. He’d loved him for so long and if this coming together was slow and jarring and uneven, that was okay. He could step carefully. He was more than willing to take the time to help Lance disarm those mines one by one.

“Their house is really nice,” Keith added, “not as nice as your family’s place- not as much history there- but it’s bright and airy. Mostly open concept, but you don’t miss the walls the way you do in a lot of open concept places. Big, modern kitchen. Big backyard. They even have a little vegetable garden with a greenhouse beside the deck.”

“Sounds nice,” he smiled and his eyes sparkled, a rare treat that fed that little sliver of hope. “I’ve seen a few pictures, but it was when they were moving in and hadn’t unpacked yet. Just walls and boxes. It’d be nice to see what a **home** looks like for Shiro.” Still watching the sunset, he lay down on the picnic blanket, sprawling out on his back in front of Keith. “You still have a room there?”

“I do, actually,” Keith answered, “it’s a five bedroom place, so the kids each get their own room, and there is a ‘guest room’ but it’s basically mine. I store most of my stuff there and it’s decorated to my taste.”

“Soooo… pretty much barren except for an extra Marmora suit and a box of alien knives, then?”

He laughed, leaning down to kiss the tip of Lance’s nose, “yeah, something like that.”

“I should give you a cactus or something to brighten it up.”

“I’d like that. It would match the one you gave me to take on missions as a reminder of home. Pretty sure I’m at Shiro’s enough that I could keep a cactus alive … especially if it was a gift from you.”

“Where would I sleep?” Lance asked, “if we went for a weekend. Where would I sleep? You have a room…”

“You could stay in my room with me, if you wanted… or I could crash on the couch. Or the girls could double up and I could sleep in the pink canopied princess bed.”

“A canopied bed! I always wanted one of those,” Lance laughed, “not a pink princess-y one, though. I wanted one like Scrooge had in all those old movies. You know what I mean? With the big heavy pillars and then the canopy and, like, velvet curtains.”

“So… a tent,” Keith laughed, “you wanted a tent with a mattress for a bed.”

Lance chuckled, shoving at Keith’s shoulder, “it’s not a tent! It is a canopied bed- just not one for little girls.”

“Well, I will be sleeping in one that is very much for little girls. It’s like ninety percent ruffles. The other ten percent is stuffed animals. It’s a twin bed in a room with flowers and ladybugs painted on the walls. There’s a giant unicorn sticker on the headboard. A unicorn, Lance. It’s ridiculous and undignified, and I am willing to endure it so that you can sleep in the very comfy queen-sized bed with normal bedding and no ruffles.”

Lance dissolved into giggles, the sound doing wonderful things to Keith- because he did that. His joking around made Lance happy enough to fall apart in laughter the way he used to do all the time. “Okay,” he managed around the laughing, “first of all- that sounds like the **best** kid bedroom **ever**. Like, ten year old Veronica would have squealed over that bedroom- do you know how hard it was to impress Veronica? Even when she was ten? Very hard. Awesome room. That kid won the bedroom lotto. Second of all- the image of you in that super-girly bed? All scowls and grumbling and drowning in teddy bears and pink ruffles? Like, that could cure depression. So cute. Third of all- as long as Shiro and Curtis don’t mind, we can share.”

“We can?”

He nodded, “yeah. We share here, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do,” he smiled at Lance, “but this is your space. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to do that anywhere else.”

“They know… about us, right?”

It was something of a loaded question, because part of that whole ‘it takes as long as it takes’ thing was that they hadn’t defined what they were to each other. Shiro was someone that Keith confided in, and they’d talked everything through more than once, and he was pretty sure that Shiro had shared those conversations with his husband, but he and Lance didn’t really have a label. They just **were**. “I talk to Shiro,” he answered, “I’ve never really named… this… us, though. I didn’t want to add any pressure, you know?”

Lance leaned up on his elbows to kiss him, “Keith… it’s been almost five years since you kissed me that first time. I know I’m skittish as hell and we are moving at a snail’s pace, but at this point, I’m pretty sure you can call me your boyfriend without us caving under the pressure of the term… unless you are seeing somebody else I don’t know about?”

He scowled, Lance knew better. He wasn’t someone who dated casually. He didn’t really have any interest in it unless he had already fallen for someone, and he’d never been someone who ever felt torn between two love interests. There was probably some kind of specific phrase for people like him, but he’d never really been all that interested in finding out. He was just him, and he worked the way he worked. His hormones seemed to be tied to his heart and his heart had a very precise focus. “I only have eyes for you,” he whispered, “you know that.”

“I do,” Lance answered, settling back on the blanket, “I was just teasing you… and maybe I like hearing that.” His smile was soft. Shy almost. Another change. Lance spent less time hiding his vulnerability behind bravado. Mourning dragged all those fears and worries to the surface, and once people saw you laid **that** bare, **that** raw… hiding concerns over things like needing more reassurance from someone you cared about seemed less important. 

Keith cupped his face, his thumb tracing along Lance’s cheekbone tenderly. “I’m not seeing anyone else,” he promised, “and I don’t mind that you are skittish, or that we are moving slowly. I just want to make your life a little happier. I just want you in mine.”

Lance turned his head to kiss Keith’s palm, then rolled away and scooted back against him. Spooned together, they watched the last of the light fade waiting for the stars to wink into being. It was a long-standing tradition.

“There she is,” Lance said after a moment, pointing at the first star. “Hi beautiful, Keith’s here.”

“Hey Princess,” Keith whispered, tightening his arm around Lance’s waist. They did this every clear night that he spent at the farm. He suspected Lance did some variation of it even when he wasn’t here with him. The first star, because while Allura was everywhere, humans needed a symbol, a focal point. Somehow, it had become, for them, the first star.

At first, Lance hadn’t been able to even sit near him once the sun was gone, shifting to the opposite edge of the blanket as soon as the sky had gone that purpley-blue color that bridged day and night. He’d understood. It had felt to Lance like being disrespectful, something too close to a betrayal. Now though, he could stay curled around him, could nuzzle his shoulder, or drop a little kiss to his temple, as Lance quietly spoke to her. Usually it was mundane, day to day stuff. Just detailing his life on the farm and the ins and outs of his large family. Occasionally, he’d talk about Keith and their time together, about how things were evolving between them. Lance’s voice was always sad and soft and filled with love when he spoke to Allura, but Keith liked to think that lately, it had been less… heartbroken, and more… wistfully fond.

Tonight though, he talked about Shiro. About Shiro and Curtis, taking a moment to adorably remind Allura of who Curtis was. ‘The dark skinned bridge cutie with the pretty eyes’ was not how Keith would have described him, but the phrasing made him smile because it was just… so Lance. About them adopting kids. He even spoke about the kids themselves, surprising Keith with how much he knew about them. He wondered how much of Lance’s knowledge came from conversations with him, and how much of it came from talking to Shiro and the others. He spent the most time **with** Lance, just because of the nature of his job, but he knew he wasn’t the only one who cared about him and worried about him isolating himself.

“Anything you wanted to say to her before we go?” Lance asked softly turning his face up to Keith’s. He nodded, smiling at him.

“So, big relationship milestone today,” Keith said, his smile turning mischievous, “Lance said I could call him my boyfriend. That’s kind of a big deal. I know you get it. I’m trying to convince him to come away with me for the weekend. I think he might even say yes this time.” Lance rolled his eyes and Keith leaned forward to kiss him, a tender, chaste little brush of lips against lips. “I was on New Altea a couple of weeks back, your statue is as gorgeous as ever. Coran is thriving. He misses you, but I think he sees you in everything there and that helps. We’re taking care of each other. Don’t you worry about us. You just rest. You earned it.”

They lay there quietly for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, though, the last bits of lingering warmth from the sun dissipated and the evening chill set in. They packed up the remains of their picnic and shook out the blanket, wrapping it over their shoulders and huddling together for warmth as they walked back to the farmhouse together. 

“I didn’t realize you’d think of that as a milestone,” Lance said into his mug once they were ensconced in his room with tea and a selection of cookies from the pantry. Lance was still wrapped in the blanket, sitting sideways in the old easy chair he had by the window in his bedroom, One knee was bent up, his foot braced on the seat and his arms looped around his leg as he cradled his tea in both hands. He’d been quiet since they’d said good-night to Allura, which wasn’t uncommon. Usually, it was because they were both remembering their days as Paladins beside her. Tonight, though, it seemed he had other things on his mind.

“Yeah, kinda,” he answered, taking a seat on the bed, “but it’s okay if you are having second thoughts… I understand. Sometimes, hearing it out loud… it can make it too real, too much.”

Lance shook his head, still not really looking at him, “no. That’s not what I meant. Just… I never really thought of you as someone who cared about that stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Like, labels and couple-y things.”

Keith leaned back against the headboard, “I don’t. Not really. I mean, if you decided that saying I could call you my boyfriend was a mistake and you weren’t ready for that, I wouldn’t be upset- as long as nothing about how we are together actually **changed**. I’m never going to be someone who pushes for that kind of thing. I haven’t been, like, all frustrated or pissed that you aren’t officially my boyfriend or anything. But, it came from you. Unprompted. You said it like you already considered it fact. That, I care about. I care about how you see me, how you see us. It felt like… you took a step closer to me… when you said that. That felt like a milestone.”

“I’m closer to you than I am to anyone,” he said after a moment, “but it still kind of feels like that’s not good enough. It’s been years, Keith. You deserve more than… this.”

“Hey, stop it,” Keith’s brow furrowed. He didn’t like when this happened. Lance had gotten spooked again… just not in the way Keith had been expecting. “I deserve to be happy. Being with you makes me happy. I mean it. Being here, with you, is my favorite part of my life. This isn’t a movie, Lance… this is real life. In real life, **this** , you and me? This is the good stuff.”

“You shouldn’t have to settle for…”

“I’m not settling… and I’m not sure I want to know how you were going to finish that sentence, but I feel like I need to.”

Lance sighed, finally lifting his head. The marks weren’t glowing, not even a little bit. Keith couldn’t remember the last time they’d been completely dull when they were together. “You shouldn’t have to settle for sifting through the rubble for a few good things in a lot of garbage.”

“Did you… just call yourself garbage?” Keith kept his voice level, even though he wanted to scream. “Lance?”

He huffed, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling, “I didn’t mean it like that. Just… Look, I know that everyone worries about me. I know you all talk about how I’m doing and how you can help… and I’m not mad- I get it. You’re my friends. You care and you don’t want to let me slip through the cracks. But… God, Keith… you are… just so amazing. And… I’m still a mess. You shouldn’t have to…” he gestured helplessly at himself. 

“Have I ever given you the impression that I am anything but completely aware and on board with the way things are between us?” he asked, concern lacing his voice, because if he’d somehow sent Lance the message that he was unsatisfied, he had some serious apologizing to do. “Lance? Have I ever given you any reason to think that I feel like I ‘deserve more’ whatever you mean by that?”

Giving up on the ceiling-staring, Lance let his head fall forward, his focus shifting to somewhere in the vicinity of his lap. “Well, no… but… you still do.”

Keith scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled the chair Lance was sitting in closer to the bed with a loud squeak that made them both flinch and laugh nervously. “Okay, serious talk,” he said ducking down into Lance’s line of sight, “you aren’t the only mess in this relationship. You aren’t the only one in mourning. You aren’t the only one who is scared and cautious. We both are. We are both dealing with the same kind of stuff. We are both trying to figure out who we are without Allura, without the Lions. That takes as long as it takes. I don’t want anyone else. I want **you**. I love **you**. I **know** you. You are kind and loving and smart and resilient and just as ‘amazing’ as I am. I’m just as damaged as you are. We match… and you know what? If what we are today is all we ever are, I’m lucky to have that. I’m thrilled with that.”

“You could have so much more,” Lance insisted. 

“I’d rather have **this** than a lot of something that isn’t **you**. I’m not a kid, Lance. I’m a grown man, I’ve seen a lot of life. I’m not settling, I’m where I want to be, with the person I want to share it with. Now, if **you** don’t want **me** , then we should talk about that… but stop thinking I’m anything but happy with you, okay?”

“Okay,” he relented, “as long as you promise me that you’ll **tell** me if you need more… want more… than I am offering.”

“I promise. Now, to confirm,” Keith said gently, peeling one of Lance’s hands off the mug so he could tangle their fingers together. It felt odd. Lance had gotten cold enough that his hands hadn’t warmed up fully, but he’d been cupping his tea, so his palm, and his fingers against the back of Keith’s hand were toasty, but the back of his own hand felt chilly against Keith’s fingers. “You are my boyfriend?” Lance nodded, his eyes serious. “And you’ll think about coming away with me for a weekend?” He nodded again, a smile starting to tug at his lips. “And if you do, we’ll share a bed- provided it is okay with our hosts?”

“They have kids… we aren’t married or living together…”

“Lance. I know why you’d want to clear it with Shiro and Curtis. Just answer the question.”

“Yeah, we’ll share a bed.” The smile grew, his dimple showing up.

“And you know that I love you, right?”

“Yes, Keith. I know that you love me.” His eyes crinkled from the growing smile… and… there it was. The thing Keith had been watching for. The Altean marks were glowing- soft and warm, despite being blue.

“Say that last part again,” he coaxed. “It bears repeating.”

Lance laughed softly, “you love me.”

“Yeah, I really do… and all that stuff is all I need or want. You. I just need you. I just want you. It’s not complicated. Stop trying to make it complicated. Come on, get changed for bed and we’ll curl up and watch movies together and ignore the world and the houseful of people.”

Unfolding himself, Lance leaned close and kissed him, melting into it with a sigh. Mindful of their mugs, Keith wrapped his arm around his back and held him, letting the kiss stretch out until all the tension in Lance’s frame fled. “You put the chair back where it belongs while I get changed, drama queen,” Lance muttered with a smile as he stood. 

One cheesy rom com and one and a half buddy cop movies later Lance was barely staying awake in Keith’s arms. The Altean marks were flickering in and out like blue fireflies as he drifted off and startled awake, fighting not to miss the last of the movie he’d seen so many times he had most of the lines memorized. Keith chuckled at his sleepy stubbornness and shut the movie off.

“Heyyyy,” Lance mumbled, “s’watchin’at…”

“Your face is a strobe light,” Keith teased, kissing the mark, “we’ll finish it in the morning. Go to sleep.”

He yawned and rolled over to face Keith, tucking his body up against him. They shifted and snuggled and tugged at blankets until they were both comfortable. Lance pressed his forehead to Keith’s, those blue eyes eerie in the now-steady glow, and smiled. “You’re my boyfriend,” he whispered.

Keith’s heart skipped a beat, because Lance looked so happy that that was true. “Yeah,” he answered, running his fingers through Lance’s soft brown hair, “I’m your boyfriend.”

“You love me.”

“I do.” It wasn’t a new development. Not the emotion, nor Lance’s knowledge of it. He’d told Lance he was in love with him before he’d kissed him the first time. He hadn’t expected to hear it back… Lance was still reeling from Allura’s death. Still trying to figure out how life fit around the hole she’d left. That was okay. His feelings weren’t dependant on Lance’s, but it was the truth, so he said it. Not often, but regularly enough that Lance now accepted it as fact. Trusted it. That was enough. He didn’t need for Lance to feel the same way-

“Keith… I’m in love with you, too.”

“What?” He didn’t believe his ears.

“Oh, mi querido, your face,” Lance laughed, and Keith had never seen those marks Allura had gifted Lance with glow so bright and steady. “I’m in love with you, too. I love you. You. My boyfriend. I’m in love with you.”

“You love me?” Keith could barely form the words. It was the last thing he expected Lance to say. His heart felt like it would burst in his chest.

“Yeah. I’ll say it again. It bears repeating,” he rested his hand along Keith’s jaw, staring deep into his eyes, “I love you and I want to go away with you for the weekend. Take me to visit your brother. Introduce me to your new nieces and nephew… as your boyfriend… because I’m in love with you.”

“Lance…” There was so much he wanted to say all at once that the words jammed up in his throat, choking off any attempt to speak. 

“Yeah,” he breathed, eyes dropping to Keith’s mouth, “I know… just… show me…”

He caught Lance’s lips with his own, pouring everything he felt into the kiss. Lance returned his fervor with equal measure. They clung to each other and kissed for what felt like an eternity. Mourning made falling in love again a kind of minefield. It took patience and care, but it wasn’t complicated, not really… and as Keith kissed the love of his life, he couldn’t help but feel that Allura was smiling down on them.


End file.
